


ASWT Epilogue: What's in a name?

by RJW



Series: ASWT Series [2]
Category: Andi Mack (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Boys In Love, Epilogue, Fluff, LGBTQ Character, LGBTQ Themes, Love, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:06:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27959645
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RJW/pseuds/RJW
Summary: My boyfriend was in one of his famous moods. I knew better than to push him. Rather than that, I had suggested to go to the park and buy some ice-cream, in an attempt to make him feel better.
Relationships: Cyrus Goodman & T. J. Kippen, Cyrus Goodman/T. J. Kippen
Series: ASWT Series [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2047667
Comments: 6
Kudos: 21





	ASWT Epilogue: What's in a name?

**Author's Note:**

> This is an epilogue to "A Story Worth Telling". Needless to say, I encourage you to read that story first, because, well..., massive spoilers!
> 
> This epilogue is a gift to everyone still faithful to the Andi Mack fandom in general, and of course Tyrus in particular.

My boyfriend was in one of his famous moods. In the past couple of months I had learned to deal with them better and better. TJ had come a long way since the day he showed up at my doorstep on his eighteenth birthday. Thanks to therapy, and a lot of support from our friends and my family, he had become a more emotionally stable person. However, sometimes he had a relapse and tended to close himself off from the outside world, me included. I now knew better than to push him. Rather than that, I had suggested to go to the park and buy some ice-cream, in an attempt to make him feel better.

Despite it being the first week of October, it almost felt like summer. If it hadn’t been for the trees starting to change color, and the days slowly becoming shorter, we could have been fooled in thinking it being the summer holidays all over again. Anyway, with only a few clouds in the sky, and the sun beaming down on us, it felt like the perfect day for a cone of vanilla flavored ice-cream (or chocolate, in TJ’s case). On our way to the park to find the ice cream vending cart, walking in silence, I had felt TJ’s hand sliding in mine, intertwining our fingers, which was his way of saying that it had nothing to do with me. Every time he did something like that it still reassured me, as I was still prone to self-doubt, and an unhealthy dose of abandonment issues after the traumatic events of the last two years.

Sometimes I still felt like living in a dream really, having my boyfriend with me all of the time. Well, maybe not _all_ of the time, but certainly _most_ of the time. He had slowly found his way back to normal life again, working hard to catch up at school, and making a new life for himself. A new life that included me luckily. I admired the way he had started to take care of all kind of formalities. Being an adult meant having all kind of obligations, and without family members to guide and help him, he sometimes struggled to get things right. Of course he could always fall back on my parents (all four of them), who adored him just like me (well, not _exactly_ just like me of course).

Having bought our ice-creams, we were seated on a wooden bench next to the vending cart. I couldn’t help but admire how beautiful my boyfriend was, sitting in the sunlight, glasses on his head and his hair in a gelled quiff, enjoying his ice-cream. I could see him visibly relax a bit. I recognized it as the moment I was allowed to at least ask him about his worries.

“Are you okay babe?” I asked carefully.

TJ licked his ice cream before he answered. “Yeah…, I’m okay” he said, sounding not completely convincing to me. I stayed silent, just watching him, in a way of letting him know that if he wanted to, he could elaborate. TJ took some time, looking into the distance and nothing in particular, before he continued.

“I just went to change the insurance papers on my car this morning” he said, “and it’s just _so_ annoying.”

“What’s annoying?” I asked, not knowing what the problem could be.

“It’s just… Every time I have to do something official, like sign an insurance form, or a contract, or renew my driver’s license, it’s always the same.”

TJ scrunched his nose, and wiggled his head from side to side while continuing in an annoying childlike voice. “ _Here you are mr. Kippen! Sign here mr. Kippen! Good to see you mr. Kippen!_ Aaargh!” he said looking completely disturbed while he waved his arms with his ice-cream precariously moving around. 

“And…?” I could only answer, struggling to make sense of his frustrations.

TJ looked at me, the annoyance clearly visible in his face, and then burst out.

“I’m not _‘mr. Kippen’_!” he spat, trying but failing to make quotation marks in the air, as that was quite difficult while holding an ice cream. “I know only one mr. Kippen, and that’s…, he’s…, I don’t…!”

TJ deflated, bending his head down. “I just don’t want to be called the same as the man who pretended to be my dad for eighteen miserable years” he said, sounding tired.

O… Yeah, _that_ I could understand. I had never thought about that. If you are in a process of leaving behind your past, especially when your parents are involved, it’s pretty difficult when you’re still remembered of that past by just your name.

“I even asked at the town hall what it would take to change my name, but I was already lost when the lady was only halfway in explaining the lengthy procedure and costs. So I’m afraid I just have to learn to carry the burden.” TJ continued.

The sound of his tired voice and frustration made my heart ache, and for a moment I could only sit silently beside him, not finding the right words to comfort him.

Then an idea came to my mind. A ridiculous idea. A bold idea. And certainly an idea I would have difficulty explaining to my parents later on. But it was a solid idea nonetheless. It was a solution to my boyfriend’s trouble. I took only a couple of seconds to think it through, aware of the fact that the rational part of my brain would chicken out of it if I would consider it for too long.

“Babe, can you hold my ice-cream for a moment?” I asked my boyfriend.

TJ looked up at me frowning, looking rather unhappy, probably assuming I wasn’t invested in the problem he had just shared with me. Well…, that certainly was not the case.

“Sure” he mumbled, taking my ice-cream from me with his left hand.

I wiped both my hands on my jeans, closed my eyes for a moment and took a deep breath. Then I got up from the bench, turned around to face my boyfriend, and got down on one knee. He just looked at me with wide eyes.

“TJ…, babe, my love…” I started, cringing on the inside from my own awkwardness, “From the moment we first met I knew it was you, and only you I wanted in my life. You are all I want, and everything I need. You make me braver and a better person, and I couldn’t imagine my life without you. So why wait to do this, knowing it is destined to be anyway. TJ, will you marry me?” 

From an outsider’s point of view, the scene would probably have looked hilarious. Next to an ice cream vending cart there was this geeky boy in jeans and a striped shirt, not looking like being an adult even, on his knee proposing to what looked like a jock, who himself was seated on a park bench, holding an ice cream in each of his hands, looking like he was completely dumbstruck, his mouth hanging open.

As second after second went by, I became painfully aware of the silence coming from all the people around us, gazing at us and trying to assess the situation. I forced myself to ignore the embarrassment I felt creeping up.

“Um… you know, if you want…” I added, now avoiding his gaze, “If I had known I was going to do this I would have bought a ring, but I wasn’t really planning…”

“Are you serious?” I heard TJ whispering to me in a low voice. “Are you messing with me?”

Alarmed I looked back up in his eyes. “No! No, I’m not messing with you. Serious! I’m serious! Really!”

TJ still looked like he was struggling to comprehend the situation. His eyes were darting from one side to another, and the ice-creams were starting to melt, with drips of vanilla and chocolate flavor falling from his hands to the ground.

“But, but… Why?” he said, now looking straight into my eyes, sounding genuinely confused.

Somehow I regained my confidence, seeing him vulnerable like that. “First of all, because I love you, but second, I hope you want to be my mr. Goodman by becoming my husband.”

As realization dawned on him, the emotion in TJ’s eyes slowly changed from confusion to disbelieve and then to happiness.

“You are amazing, you know that?” I heard him whisper, the awe clearly noticeable in his voice.

I felt myself blushing. “You tell me that sometimes” I said smiling, “Now could you please answer the question? My knee is starting to hurt, I think I placed it on a pebble or something…”

TJ grinned from ear to ear. “Isn’t my answer obvious?” he asked cheekily.

“Um… I’d rather you make it explicit by saying it out loud…” I muttered.

“Yes you dork!” TJ almost shouted, “I would love to marry you and become your mr. Goodman!” And with that, he awkwardly but with much enthusiasm wrapped his arms around me, melting ice-creams and all, and pulled me up in his arms, placing about a hundred kisses on my face.

Relief, love, happiness and a bit of embarrassment washed over me as I let sink in what had just happened, and the cheering crowd that was surrounding us became impossible to ignore.

“I love you”, TJ whispered in my ear, “And you can’t take it back, because we’ve attracted quite an audience.”

I groaned in his shoulder. “Not that I would ever want to take it back, but I was hoping we could hold off on telling my parents for a while.”

I could just feel TJ grinning against my ear. “Hm, let’s see, I can see your parents neighbors, one of our teachers, and I think I spotted Andi in the distance with her phone in her hand.”

“O god…” I sighed.

TJ released me from his arms to look at me. “We’ll do it together” he smiled. And then I couldn’t help but burst out laughing at his surprised and disappointed face when I saw him looking at an empty ice cone in his left hand.

“I’m afraid I dropped your ice cream in the grass somehow…” he pouted.

I laughed and gave him a kiss. “We can share what’s left of yours, my future mr. Goodman.”

TJ beamed. “I’d be delighted to share everything with you my mr. Goodman, we can start with my ice-cream.”

To be honest, the chocolate flavor tasted almost as good as the vanilla.

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed this epilogue! Leave kudos and comments if you did, you will make my day.  
> Remember: love is love!


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